Award-winning filmmaker Park Chan-Wook has given fans the first look at "The Handmaiden" trailer, ahead of its worldwide debut at the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival starting May 11 to 22.
Park's upcoming "The Handmaiden" film Cannes debut came to light when the event organizers' officially confirmed on April 14 that the new mystery-lesbian thriller will appear in the main competition section for the Palme d'Or award at the upcoming festival.
"The Handmaiden" is the first in four years that a South Korean film has been shortlisted to vie for the highest award at the prestigious French festival, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. It also denotes Park's first local venture since the 2009's horror vampire film "Thirst."
Now, CJ Entertainment gives fans a taste of what's coming by unleashing a 30-second stunning, intense trailer for the upcoming film, featuring the director's one of a kind immaculate framing and black humor style at play. The film is based on Sarah Waters' historical crime novel "Fingersmith."
The lush period thriller is set amid the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1930. It follows the story of a young petty handmaid, played by Kim Tae-ri, who employs the service of a charming swindler (Ha Jung-woo) to join an elaborate scam.
In an attempt to seize the property of a Japanese heiress named Agassi (Kim Min-hee), the titular character becomes the noble lady's personal servant. However, the story takes an unsurprising turn when the heiress and the handmaid discover a mutual attraction to each other, The Korea Times reported. Other star-studded film stars include Cho Jin-Woong, Moon So-Ri, and Kim Hae-Sook.
While it is no news that "The Handmaiden" will bow in Cannes next month, it has been learned that the film will also open in local theaters in June while Amazon Studios' plans to release it stateside later this year.
Meanwhile, two other upcoming South Korean films have also been chosen to bow at the out-of-competition section at the highly anticipated Cannes festival - a catastrophic blockbuster film titled "Train to Busan" and the suspense-thriller film, "The Wailing aka Gokseong."
The prestigious film festival will kick off on May 11 by airing the comedy-drama film, "Cafe Society," starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart with American film director Woodley Allen at the helm.
Check out the video below: